Nobody on a call ever notices a teleprompter. What they notice is your eye line: the drop down and to the left, the horizontal sweep, the moment you visibly stop listening and start reading. Every one of those problems is geometry, and geometry is fixable in about two minutes before the call starts.
FreeTeleprompter.io is a free browser-based teleprompter you can use during a Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet call. It runs in its own browser window on your own screen, so it does not join the meeting and the other participants see only your camera. There is nothing to install and no admin rights needed, which matters on a locked-down work laptop. It is free and requires no account.
Work out where your camera physically is
Top centre of the laptop lid, clipped to a monitor, or on a stand. Everything else here depends on that one point in space, and on a two-monitor desk it is the thing people get wrong.
Raise the camera to your eye level
A laptop flat on a desk films you from below and has you looking down at everyone for an hour. A stand, a box or a stack of books under it changes how you come across more than any software setting will.
Shrink the teleprompter into a narrow strip under the lens
Open it in a second window rather than a tab, then size it down. A narrow column keeps your eyes almost still. A full-width page makes them sweep, and the sweep is what reads as reading.
Turn off your own self-view
Watching your own face is the second biggest cause of restless eyes on a call. Most meeting apps let you hide it, and you will feel more present within about half a minute.
Record a fifteen second test in the exact setup
Same seat, same camera height, same window position. Watch it back. If you can see your eyes move, narrow the column or move it nearer the lens and test again.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is a separate browser window on your own screen and it does not join the meeting or interact with it. The only way anyone sees it is if you share your entire desktop, so share a specific window or application instead.
Yes. It is not integrated with any meeting platform, which is exactly why it works with all of them. It is a browser window showing scrolling text on your own machine, so the meeting software is irrelevant to it.
No. There is nothing to install, no browser extension, no account and no admin rights needed. It runs in the browser that is already on your work laptop.
Three things, in order of effect. Get the camera up to eye level, narrow the text to a few words a line, and put that narrow strip as close to the lens as your screen allows. Then record a short test and watch it, because the movement always looks bigger on playback than it feels while you are talking.
It can be, if you prop the phone immediately beneath the webcam. That puts the words physically nearer the lens than anywhere on your screen. The trade-off is that you cannot adjust it from the keyboard while the call is running.
No. The recorder captures your own camera on your own device, which is useful for rehearsing before a call or filming a piece to camera afterwards. To record the meeting itself, use the recording built into the meeting platform, and tell the other people on the call.
Next
Open the teleprompter
Free, no install, no account
Autocue for Zoom and video calls
Where to put the window so nobody can tell
Teleprompter for presentations
Talks, webinars and standing in a room
Sales call script
A discovery call that does not sound scripted
Elevator pitch templates
Thirty, sixty and 120 second versions
How to look natural on camera
The tells, and how to remove them